"What works as a renewable resource in one area might not be so effective elsewhere, so the sector will always need a range of different technologies and expertise."The renewable energy industry ranges from large-scale wind farming to wave and tidal energy systems, new technologies that pose an exciting challenge for adventurous engineering experts like those from Queen's University, Belfast, who designed Islay's "Limpet" (Land Installed Marine Powered Electricity Turbine) wave-power system for Wavegen, a marine energy company.Biomass Engineering, a St Helen's-based firm producing "gasification" systems, which convert woodchip, leather waste, animal by-products and other biomass-based fuels into power, works with consultant engineers and scientists from Aston University. Jim Campion, the managing director, says that while the people developing the technology are obviously crucial, "there's been a huge commercial growth in the industry, so there's a need for professional nous at the business and management end, too".Campion's company produces small-scale industrial biomass power stations for farmers to convert energy crops into commercial electricity But CHP systems are in use in London, too. Every new planning application that passes across Ken Livingstone's desk now has to commit, where feasible, to tapping 10 per cent of its energy from renewable sources.It's not only commercial operations and the Government that are engaged in the shift towards green energy, says Graham Meek of the Renewable Energy Association. "There are a lot of career opportunities in small-scale domestic technologies, for example: manufacturing and supplying home solar panels, rooftop wind turbines, woodfuel boilers and ground source heat pumps, which are buried in the ground to convert the ambient energy in the soil to heat the home," he says "The sector is extremely varied.

You have niche players, but also opportunities within major businesses such as Vestas and Nordex, two large Scandinavian wind turbine manufacturers with UK facilities."Many people choose the green energy industry because they want an ethically sound career, and those same people may be sceptical about the green credentials of big oil - BP or Shell, for example. But even the multinational energy giants now acknowledge that fossil fuels are finite, and that they must diversify. BP, which has begun to re-brand itself as "Beyond Petroleum", has launched a new business, BP Alternative Energy, to invest in solar, wind and other alternative power sources to the tune of about £4.5bn over the next decade. Shell, meanwhile, has a significant stake in the London Array project to build one of the UK's largest wind farms in the Thames Estuary, which would produce the same power output as a regular coal-fired power station.As an example of the diversity in the renewables sector, Meek cites the case of two investors in the UK biofuels market, which he says is set to grow strongly. British Sugar, a large, established company, has diversified by investing in a bioethanol (green fuel) facility at Wissington, Suffolk. Green Spirit Fuels, a small company, has spotted the same market gap and built a similar refinery in the West Country.

Both have every chance of success."The renewable energy sector encompasses both established companies and technologies, and new ones," says Meek. "Their varying degrees of development mean that their company cultures also vary.". Do you fancy a stint teaching English in the land of the rising yen? Heard a few good things about it from that girl who works for the record label? You know; the one with the really cool tattoo you talked to when you and your workmates went to that trendy sushi place after the end-of-work do Bad news, I'm afraid. While you were mucking around finishing up that TEFL qualification or BA, the party ended in Japan. You should have got here sooner, because it used to be a blast. I can't think of any other work abroad that paid so well, gave on-the-job training, accommodation and a visa, and had such amazing nightlife. Don't get me wrong; expat life in Japan is still mental, but nowadays it's a kind of fruit picking/ backpacker mental rather than the Skybar-champagne-happy-hour mental it used to be. And a few years ago, we never thought it would end."But wait!" I hear you cry, "The Japanese economy is doing splendidly, the Nikkei is up one billion per cent, and what about the guy from The Last Samurai who won the Oscar? Japan is back! Surely?"Surely, yes - if you're Ken Watanabe, or have just sold out a public share offering for an internet anime studio.

But every time I'm out in town for a few beers, the stories circulate like second-hand smoke through the bars. I hear about the pair of teachers who just got fired from a well-known college after 15 years of service. The very seniority and experience that put them into a higher pay-bracket also put them first on to the chopping block.Another of the college's veteran teachers returned from rehabilitation in England after a stroke and found he'd been replaced. The rumour is that the college didn't want a teacher with a stick because it wasn't good for their image.I guess the two other companies he worked for felt the same; they fired him too.